Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Who the Hell is...

An overwhelming but incredibly productive and pleasant Monday kept me far, far from the keyboard, and that's fine. The day culminated in an amazing evening with family & friends -- my parents, now in their 80s, Gerhard and Rose down from Kitchener, Ontario, and Rick Veitch and Cindy down from West Townshend -- that was a one-of-a-kind gathering. Ah, life is good.

I jumped between scanning art, baking, and staining (the outside of the new addition to the house) all afternoon, and got all tasks completed. A new batch of scanning this morning should prep me for the CCS comic strip session this afternoon, but I have so much more to learn! So many great comic strips and cartoonists, so little time...
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Who the hell is Harriet Miers?? Yesterday morning, President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to step into the shoes and robes of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Her greatest attributes seem to be (a) she is a blank slate and (b) Bush loves her.

Miers has been a Bush political appointee, campaign counsel, personal lawyer and an apparently die-hard loyalist. Brrrrr -- a chronology of Harriet Miers' career, courtesy of the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary, doesn't inspire confidence:

1970—Graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School
1970-1972—Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joe Estes
1972-2001—Joined Texas law firm, Locke, Purnell
1985—Elected president of the Dallas Bar Association
1986-1989—Member of the State Bar board of directors
1989-1991—Elected and served one term on the Dallas City Council
1992—Elected president of the Texas State Bar
1993-1994—Worked as counsel for Bush's gubernatorial campaign
1995-2000—Appointed chairwoman of Texas Lottery Commission by Gov. George Bush
1996—Became president of Locke, Purnell, and the first woman to lead a major Texas law firm
1998—Presided over the merger of Locke, Purnell with another big Texas firm, Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, and became co-managing partner of the resulting megafirm, Locke Liddell & Sapp
2000—Represented Bush and Cheney in a lawsuit stemming from their dual residency in Texas while running in the Presidential primary
2001—Selected as staff secretary for President Bush
2003—Promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
2004—Selected as White House Counsel

Among her duties for Bush was legal analysis of the use of the National Guard in Iraq, which stands in my mind as one of the grossest misuses of the Guard and among the most devastating military bungles in American history. But, hey, Harriet thought it was no prob.

Not to pre-judge the judge, but at this point, anyone beneath the radar that our Prez recommends is suspect by association. With the revelations following Katrina, one would be irrational to simply accept this nomination on faith -- though this is, after all, a "faith-based" presidency. Simply put, I have no faith in any aspect or component of the Bush Administration, and those who do seem completely irrational to me.